Aging gracefully in your home

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Aging in place: the popular phrase makes growing old in your own home, surrounded by the things you love, sound positively idyllic. The reality can be quite different when your arthritic knees cry for mercy every time you climb the stairs and the pot drawer under the oven is suddenly just beyond your reach.

"We’re not prepared for the tsunami of changes we’re going to face in our housing needs as we grow older," says Robert Howlett, owner of Sage Solutions for Independent Living Inc. (www.sagesolutions.ca). His company specializes in products and services to improve residential safety and independence.

Aging in place is usually less expensive than institutional care, Howlett says, with $25,000 to $30,000 the maximum that most people are willing to spend on renovations to stay at home.

The problem is, most of us don’t think about making our homes more accessible until an accident or sudden illness, many of them associated with old age, forces our hand.

That was the case with Ming-Che Chen, one of Howlett’s clients. Chen had barely retired when a vacation accident in Hawaii three years ago left him a paraplegic. His son, Jason, found and modified a home in Kanata close to his own for his father, mother and sister.

"A lot of the things we’ve done for my father would be sufficient to let most seniors stay in their homes," says Jason. They include revamping the first floor so his father can live there comfortably. The dining room was converted into a bedroom. A main-floor linen closet and powder room were combined into a bathroom with an accessible shower. Carpeting hindered wheelchair movement, so it was replaced with commercial-grade vinyl.

Other upgrades included an elevator from the garage to the main floor, making it easier for the elder Chen to enter and exit the home.

Howlett calls bathrooms — with fixtures too close together and difficult-to-access showers — "public enemy No. 1" for aging clients. The rooms often need to be gutted, with renovation costs usually running $10,000 and up. Howlett is enthusiastic about the Best Bath Systems’ line of barrier-free acrylic showers. Starting at about $2,500 plus installation, they feature a door and threshold that can be removed to allow wheelchair access. They also have a wood core, so grab bars can be located anywhere.

Products such as the Invisia Collection from Ottawa-based HealthCraft Products (healthcraftproducts.com) are stylish alternatives to the usual institutional-look bars and other bathroom accessories.

Kitchens, with their hard-to-reach cabinetry and standardized layouts, are another challenge as we age. AARP says ovens with side-hinged doors and multi-level work areas can make life easier.

Ottawa-based designer Dyanne Donahue, of Persimmon Interiors (persimmoninteriors.com), has helped clients renovate for aging in place. She suggests relatively inexpensive re-dos such as replacing cavernous lower kitchen cabinets with drawers for plates and glasses. Drawer inserts from Richelieu (richelieu.com), available at Richelieu Hardware on Belfast Road, help keep items organized, she says. A countertop extension that folds down when not in use makes food preparation easier for someone in a wheelchair.

Other simple changes can make a home more elder-friendly, says Donahue. Lever-style light dimmers available at Home Depot are a blessing for those with arthritis.

Tiled floors should be non-slip and the grout flush with the tiles so walking is more comfortable and tripping less likely.

Echoing Howlett, she stresses the importance of being proactive about aging.

"If you’re doing a kitchen renovation anyway, ask yourself how it could be designed so it’s accessible if you lose some of your mobility."

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